Mayweather vs. McGregor Fails To Break Huge Record
For all of the claims that last month’s (Sat., August 26, 2017) massive Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor boxing match from Las Vegas was going to break every record related to combat sports, it’s fallen painfully short of one main record that is still held by Mayweather vs. Pacquiao.
Figures arrived confirmed by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) via MMA Fighting today (Wed., September 6, 2017) that Mayweather vs. McGregor brought in a live gate of $55,414,865.79 for the event from T-Mobile Arena, good enough for second all-time but not enough to surpass the much larger record of $72,198,500 for Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, which went down at the MGM Grand.
The event, despite featuring by far the most promotion and build-up of any combat sporting event, sold only 13,094 tickets for an arena built to hold 17,698 spectators. Not surprisingly, UFC President Dana White had recently been seen and heard touting the overall success of Mayweather vs. McGregor, stating that it had set the record with 6.5 million pay-per-view buys. He had also been heard proclaiming the fight was on track for a $70 million gate, however, a number the bout ultimately fell short of.
The current record for PPV buys is 4.6 million gained by Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, a number which SHOWTIME Sports executive Stephen Espinoza confirmed Mayweather vs. McGregor is on the verge of eclipsing, signifying that the bout was much more popular on PPV than as an actual destination.
